


intermediate felt surrogacy

by Rustyanklebraclet



Series: Community episode rewrites [7]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Episode Related, Episode: s04e09 Intro to Felt Surrogacy, Fix-It, Gen, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, seriously the angst lasts like two paragraphs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24900706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rustyanklebraclet/pseuds/Rustyanklebraclet
Summary: “I remember, okay? I remember hearing you say something. And I'm not sure what it was, but I know it happened. You can’t just pretend you didn’t. It's not fair.”as it turns out, abeddidconfess something that night.
Relationships: Troy Barnes & Annie Edison & Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Series: Community episode rewrites [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772773
Comments: 30
Kudos: 328





	intermediate felt surrogacy

**Author's Note:**

> so, a very important inconsistency here because i'm an idiot and i somehow thought this epsiode was later than it is. in canon, troy and britta are still together at this point, but i literally just forgot about that and wrote it like they aren't so uh. theres that.

“Wait, Abed. you never told us your secret.”

There’s a flutter in his chest. He realizes it was unrealistic for him to hope they wouldn’t notice, but here he is.

“I didn't share one that night. After we got back from the woods, everyone was being silent and not making eye contact. I didn't know why, so I mirrored your behaviour.”

It works. Shirley and Annie (predictably) find this adorable and “Awwww” in unison. He copies them, and the subject is dropped.

He stays late, that day, to help Pavel with a movie he’s making for class.

“Do you want to come help?” he asks Troy.

Troy just shakes his head.

“Alright. I’ll see you at home.”

“Yeah.”

Abed reaches for their handshake, but Troy walks away.

Things end up running late with Pavel, and it’s well past dark as Abed helps him clean up.

“You can stay here if you want, bro,” Pavel tells him. Pavel still lives in his old dorm, but his roommate has graduated and hasn’t been replaced.

“No, I should go home. Thanks, though.”

Pavel gives him a thumbs-up, and Abed grabs his jacket and bag from beside the door.

The apartment is dark when he gets home. His stomach growls as he unlocks the door, and he decides to make buttered noodles for himself before going to sleep.

He’s careful to be as quiet as he can as he enters the kitchen, trying not to wake Annie or Troy. But he flicks on the light of the kitchen, and Troy is already leaning against the counter.

“Hey,” he says, not making eye contact with Abed.

Abed frowns. “Why were you just standing in here with the lights off?”

“Does it matter?”

His frown deepens.

“Are you mad at me?”

Troy shrugs.

“I’m pretty sure that you’re mad at me. Why?”

Troy shrugs again. Abed thinks he should be annoyed, but he’s more confused than anything.

“I don’t understand.”

“You lied, Abed.”

“When?”

“In the study room. About your secret. I know you said something, Abed. Why didn’t you tell us?”

Abed feels like he’s going to be sick. But he’s in too deep now. It’s too late to back down.

“I didn’t lie. I don’t even have any secrets to tell.”

“Everyone has secrets.”

That’s true. Troy knows that that’s true, because he already knows most of Abed's.

“Okay, fine. But I still didn't tell one.”

Abed moves from where he’s been standing in the doorway to the cabinet where they keep the noodles. He busies himself with making his food, and Troy doesn’t move from where he’s standing behind Abed.

“You realize how shitty this is, right?”

Abed ignores him.

“Like, I constantly try to support you when no one else will, because that’s what friends do, and I know that you’re not trying to hurt people. Even when you do. But this is objectively just supremely fucked up. Everyone else shared things that they're so incredibly ashamed of, and you just.... got out of it.”

Abed's hands start to shake as he puts the bowl into the microwave. He plants them on the counter in a futile attempt to still them as the neon numbers on the microwave tick down.

“I remember, okay? I remember hearing you confess something. And I don’t remember what it was, but I know it happened. You can’t just pretend you didn’t. It isn’t fair.”

Abed focuses very hard on his breathing, on the hum of the microwave, on the faint sounds of a TV in the unit above them.

“Will you just-” he sighs. Abed still doesn’t face him, but he knows Troy's ticks well enough to know that he’s scrubbing his hands over his face as he does it “I don’t know what you could have possibly said that’s this big of a deal, but you need to tell us. You owe us that much.”

_ I’m in love with Troy. _

That was what he had said. Five words, and everything inside him had shattered. He had wanted so badly to take the words back, imagined himself reaching into the air and shoving them back into his mouth, but he couldn’t. And then he got the chance, and he took it.

It almost worked.

Abed turns around, now. Troy looks less angry than before, though he doesn’t see Troy angry very often, so he doesn’t know what that looks like as well as other things.

“You can tell me, first, if that makes it easier. Whatever it is, I'm not going to think less of you.”

Abed shakes his head.

“It's not that,” he says, quietly. “It’s just- what if you knew it would ruin our friendship forever, if I told you. Would you still want to know?”

Troy’s giving him an odd look, now.

“I don’t think that there’s-”

“There is,” Abed says, cutting him off as he shakes his head “And if I say it, we’ll never be the same.”

There’s a beat. the microwave goes off behind them, but neither of them moves. Then, Troy reaches, gently, for his hand. Abed lets him take it.

“I would still want you to tell me. Just so that I could prove you wrong.”

And he looks so sincere. His voice is soft, and he’s looking up at Abed through his eyelashes. And Abed isn’t afraid of a lot, but a world without Troy is at the top of the list.

He knows it’s going to spill out eventually. He's pretty good at controlling his feelings, but he’s not as good as people think. He has a maximum volume, and this thing with Troy overflowed years ago.

“I’m in love with you.”

He whispers it. He doesn’t think he could say it at a normal volume if he tried. He's watching Troy's face, waiting for him to push away and be angry and disgusted. but his face doesn’t change.

After several moments, the air suffocatingly thick, Troy speaks.

“You are?”

His voice breaks on the last syllable, and Abed nods, slowly.

Troy swallows. Abed tilts his head downwards, focusing on where their hands are still joined. He's bracing himself for it, the rejection. but it doesn't come.

“I wanna kiss you really bad right now,” Troy says, instead.

Abed's eyes snap up to meet his, wide with shock. And Troy is just giving him this earnest look, like his heart is in Abed’s hands. It’s funny, because Abed’s is in his, has been at least since they sang to a rat in an empty science hallway.

“You should.”

And so he does.

Troy leans up into Abed’s space, gently pressing their lips together. It’s soft, and it’s sweet, and it’s everything that it should be. Their hands separate, and Abed’s move to cup Troy’s jaw as they separate.

“I’m in love with you too, just for the record. Also, I think I maybe wanna spend the rest of my life kissing you.”

“I could deal with that.”

**\---**

Troy wakes up the next morning with Abed’s head resting on his chest.

The room is dim, only faint beams of light streaming in through the curtainless window as the sun rises. He turns his head, careful not to disturb Abed as he looks at the digital clock on his bedside table.

_ 6:59 _ , the clock reads.

He watches it for another moment, and the time changes, bringing with it a beeping noise that stirs Abed.

Troy moves his arm to blindly shut the alarm off as Abed sits up and looks at him blearily.

“Good morning,” Troy says, smiling at the way Abed’s hair sticks out in every direction.

Abed hums and leans in to kiss Troy. After a moment, though, he pulls back to look at Troy properly as he speaks.

“I think we should talk.”

“Okay. You’re probably right.”

Abed nods.

“I would suggest getting coffee first, but there’s a reasonable chance we’ll run into Annie, which would definitely derail things.”

“Definitely. Good thinking.”

“Thank you. First off, there’s the matter of telling people. More specifically: who, when, and how.”

Troy chews his bottom lip as he considers this. He focuses on a stain on his comforter, scratching at it absently for a moment before his eyes come back to meet Abed’s gentle ones. He finds both of Abed’s hands, and takes them in his own.

“I’m ready to tell people whenever you are.’ 

Something that looks like surprise passes over Abed’s face, and he nods.

“Oh, alright. I wasn’t expecting that. I’m ready anytime as well. We can even do it when we meet the group before class this morning. Follow up question: what exactly are we telling them?”

“Like, are we boyfriends?”

Abed nods, and Troy shrugs.

“If you want to be.”

“I do.”

Troy grins and leans forward to press his lips to Abed's.

“So it’s settled. I think we should contact friends weekly’s sister publication, boyfriends weekly. They would definitely be interested.”

Abed leans back into Troy, and just as it faintly occurs to Troy that they probably need to start getting ready.

Fifteen minutes later, they both emerge into the kitchen. They can hear Annie in the shower as Troy makes himself a coffee that’s more just coffee flavoured milk and sugar, and Abed pours himself cereal.

“Should we tell her now?” Troy asks, as they stand in the kitchen.

Abed takes a bite of his cereal and shrugs. He chews for a moment, swallows, and then speaks.

“We might as well. Plus, she might be a good buffer for the rest of the group if she’s already processed it a bit.”

Troy nods. The shower has shut off, and they hear the bathroom door creak open as Annie emerges, fully dressed and brushing her wet hair.

“Hey, guys. Is there any coffee left?”

Troy nods, and they both allow her to peck their cheeks as she opens the cabinet for a mug. Abed wordlessly reaches to the top shelf and pulls her favourite one down for her, and she smiles at him in response.

She fills her mug and sets her brush down on the counter as she leans against the counter beside Abed and across from Troy.

“How are you guys?” she asks pleasantly, taking a sip of her coffee.

Troy exchanges a look with Abed, who holds up a finger as he chews his bite of cereal.

“We’re dating,” says Abed, point-blank, once he swallows.

Annie chokes on the sip of coffee she’s just taken, and Troy watches as Abed awkwardly thumps her on the back a few times. She holds up a hand, and takes a deep breath.

“Like, actually, or is this another spoof that I spend a month thinking is real?”

“Homage,” Abed corrects “and no. it’s real.”

Annie’s face lights up, and she sets her mug down so she can pull them into a hug with an excited “You guys!”. Troy barely manages to not spill hot coffee all on all three of them, but the sentiment stands.

There’s more squealing and hugging, and Annie asks  _ several _ questions, - most of which they don’t have answers for - before Troy notices that the microwave reads 7:48. It’s a rush to get out the door, but they somehow only end up five minutes late to meet the rest of the group.

Everyone, including Jeff, is already seated around the table as the three of them file in.

“Where were you three?” Britta asks as they take their seats. “You’re usually the first ones here.”

“Oh, you know,” Annie tells her “official roommate business.”

“Actually,” Troy says, finding Abed’s hand under the table. “Me and Abed have an announcement.”

They receive a variety of looks from the study group, and they nod at each other.

“Troy and Abed are to-geeeether!” they sing.

“Romantically,” Abed clarifies, when nobody responds.

There’s a momentary silence. Annie looks almost as nervous as Troy and Abed do as the three of them try to gauge their friends' reactions.

Another moment passes, and Jeff nods.

“Been waiting for that.”

“Jeff! Try to be more supportive!” Britta scolds, turning to face Troy and Abed “I, for one, would like to let you know that as both an ally of the community  _ and _ someone with a significant gay experience-”

“Do you mean the time that you kissed a straight girl that you thought was a lesbian, who you were only friends with to be cool?” Jeff asks.

“Listen,” Britta says, rounding on Jeff to argue with him.

Before long, Peirce, who has been uncharacteristically silent, coughs loudly.

“Gay,” he says, which sparks a whole new argument, this time between Jeff, Britta, Pierce, and Shirley.

Troy feels Abed squeeze his hand, breaking his attention away from their bickering friends. Troy, assuming everyone to be distracted, leans over to plant a quick kiss on Abed’s mouth. He notices, however, Annie watching them from across the table with a gentle smile.

He returns it.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://readandwritesilver.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/HOMINGPIGE0N) if you want
> 
> As always, any and all feedback is appreciated :)
> 
> Much love, Clover <3


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